Musk’s Lawsuit Against Online Watchdog Tossed

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A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X Corp. against a self-proclaimed hate speech and disinformation watchdog group.

The original complaint was filed last summer when X Corp. accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate of making false claims after the London-based nonprofit claimed hate speech had exploded on the social media platform since October 2022 when Musk took over the company.

The CCDH’s stated mission is to hold social media companies “accountable and responsible for their business choices” and that these companies “erode basic human rights and civil liberties by enabling the spread of online hate and disinformation.”

The lawsuit began by saying that the U.S. and the U.K. branches of the CCDH are “activist organizations masquerading as research agencies, funded and supported by unknown organizations, individuals and potentially even foreign governments with ties to legacy media companies — have embarked on a scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the X platform.”

The lawsuit also claimed the CCDH “intentionally and unlawfully accessed data,” thereby violating terms of its agreement as a registered user of X.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breye ruled that X’s lawsuit was “unabashedly and vociferously” about “punishing the Defendants for their speech.”

Using Musk’s platform to respond to the ruling, the CCDH posted: “CCDH has won the dismissal of Elon Musk’s baseless and intimidatory lawsuit to silence our research. This is a huge win for organizations holding social media giants accountable.”

X News voiced displeasure with Breyer’s decision, posting: “Today a federal court in San Francisco issued a decision in the case X brought against the Center for Countering Digital Hate for illegally obtaining platform data to create misleading research. X disagrees with the court’s decision and plans to appeal.”